Make a small vocabulary set useful

A word is easier to use when you know what you can do with it. Instead of memorising a long bilingual list, start with eighteen words that help you ask for something, describe your study day, or understand a simple question.

Each group gives you six words to practise together. Learn the meaning that fits the example first; words such as 밥 will need more than one English label.

Read the Hangul and tap the speaker. If reading is still slow, use the syllable-block lesson alongside the first group. Try three words today, then return for the next three when you can recognise and use the first set.

Start with things you can point to

Begin with the object in front of you when possible. Look at a cup of water and recall 물 before looking down at the English. Then say 물 주세요 as a whole request. You have moved from naming an object to using it in a conversation.

밥 often refers to cooked rice, but it can also refer to a meal. The context of 밥을 먹어요 tells you which reading matters. Do not assume the sentence always gives you a complete ingredient list. Similarly, 집 can mean the building or someone’s home; 집에 가요 normally becomes the natural English “go home.”

에 in the three movement examples marks the destination. Copy the combination 집에 가요 before trying to make a general rule for every use of 에.

Add people and study objects

이 사람은 제 친구예요. means “This person is my friend.” 사람 identifies a person; 친구 tells you the relationship. The two words do different work. 제 means “my” in this example, and 친구예요 uses the noun-sentence pattern.

이분은 제 선생님이에요. means “This is my teacher.” 이분 is a respectful way to refer to the person here. You do not need to call every person 선생님 or add 님 to every name. The names and titles guide explains those choices in more detail.

For the objects, put a real book and notebook beside a bag. Say 책, 공책, 가방. Then put the book inside and try 가방에 책이 있어요. — “There is a book in the bag.” 에 marks the location here, and 이 goes with 책 in this example. The action is different from 집에 가요, even though both sentences contain 에.

Learn words that change what you can ask

In the time examples, 오늘, 내일 and 지금 appear without 에. Learn 오늘 공부해요 as it stands rather than automatically adding 에 to every time word. You will meet other time expressions, such as 아침에, that behave differently.

뭐, 어디 and 어떻게 ask for different kinds of information: a thing, a place, or a way of doing something. If you want to know a word for an object you are pointing to, 이거 뭐예요? is a useful first question. If you already have an English expression in mind, 한국어로 어떻게 말해요? asks how to say it in Korean; the other person still needs to know which expression you mean.

Keep the final 요 in these polite examples. Recognising a question word is not the same as knowing how much information or politeness the whole question needs.

Turn recognition into three practical jobs

In a shop, 공책 있어요? can ask “Do you have notebooks?” In another situation, it can ask whether someone has a notebook. The context helps supply who has what. Do not memorise 있어요 as an English sentence that always starts with “I.”

Try changing just one noun in a pattern. 공책 주세요 can become 물 주세요 when you need water. 가방에 공책이 있어요 can become 가방에 책이 있어요 when you describe the contents of the bag. Use 공책 주세요 in a shop or when someone is handing out study supplies. Pointing to the notebook helps make the request clear.

The polite verb lesson explains forms such as 가요, 마셔요 and 공부해요. You can use the examples here as whole phrases while you work through that grammar.

Try a five-minute review you can repeat

1. Look and listen. Choose three words and listen to each once. Check its meaning in the example.
2. Cover the Korean. Look at the English meaning or a real object and try to recall the Korean. Then uncover it and correct yourself.
3. Use one sentence. Say or write a short sentence from this page. Change one word if you can do so accurately.
4. Return later. Check the same three words tomorrow before adding more. Mark the words you could recognise but could not produce.

If three words feel like too much, use one. If they are easy, mix them with words from an earlier session instead of only reciting the page in order.

When keeping a vocabulary note, record a word, a useful meaning, and one small example. Leave room for a second meaning later. This makes it easier to revise an early translation rather than treating the first English label as the word’s only possible meaning.

Recall the word and explain the context

Pick a person, a place, an object and a time from the page. Picture a short study scene and describe it in two or three simple sentences. Reuse the patterns above and check the words you changed.

A small listening check

Dictionary support and pronunciation

• National Institute of Korean Language: 밥 — Compare its rice and meal meanings and its pronunciation with particles.
• National Institute of Korean Language learner dictionary — Search the other words in Hangul, choose the relevant meaning, and compare the dictionary audio with the prepared lesson clips.

Reviewed September 3, 2026. Found a mistake? Send a correction.